Pinecrest turn signal requires private funding

Pinecrest residents continued to press their case for a new traffic signal for their development at a Beaufort County Council meeting Monday, though officials have indicated that private funding might be needed for action regardless of traffic study results.

Several other Pinecrest residents joined Phyllis Lambert, who started the drive with a 153-signature petition, for public comments to show support for the effort to add the signal where Crossings Boulevard and Masters Way meet Bluffton Parkway near Buckwalter Parkway.

Lambert read a letter from another concerned resident who noticed a media report and decided to add her voice to the chorus of neighbors who say the lack of median space endangers motorists turning left as well as school buses crossing over Bluffton Parkway to reach the other side of the development.

“It is like threading a needle trying to get from one side to another,” Lambert said, urging officials to look beyond traffic counts to what she considers an inherently unsafe median.

The county agreed to conduct a traffic study after Lambert’s last lobbying effort before Council. That study is ongoing, but a county traffic and safety engineer briefed council on preliminary findings.

An early traffic count shows a morning peak of four left turns from Masters Way and 19 from Crossings Boulevard, with similar levels midday, said Colin Kinton, the engineer. The bulk are right turns, which don’t give cause for a traffic signal, he said. In the afternoon, the count grew to six left turns from Masters Way and 31 from Crossings Boulevard.

Kinton said bus routes through the intersection are of concern, though, and the county is alerting the school district.

“There are safer ways than going across that intersection,” he said.

County Administrator Gary Kubic compared this request with the one that installed a traffic light outside the nearby Parker’s: Both were for private roads accessible to the public. In that case, Parker’s put up about $70,000, while the county provided about $26,000 worth of in-kind contributions.

“That light was driven by private contributions,” he said.

County spokeswoman Joy Nelson has said private funding from the developer will have to make up the difference here as well.

The full analysis and recommendation, expected to be presented at the next County Council meeting, will include an assessment of site distance, accidents and alternative solutions.

Over the past three years, the Bluffton Township Fire District — which typically comes out for more serious incidents — responded to the intersection seven times. The Bluffton Police Department reported 15 collisions over the same period, while the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office logged two vehicle wrecks.

In other action:

• County Council freed up $10,000 for the Heyward House roof restoration that was originally designated for a now-stymied bathroom project. Combined with another $5,000 from the organization’s regular county accommodations tax distribution, the project that stretched from $13,000 to $53,000 will be completely covered.

• County Council delayed approving $450,000 in accommodations tax distributions after a regular applicant, Lowcountry Resort and Tourism, missed the deadline. Council sent back the full list of expenditures to the review board with an additional $27,000 to fund Lowcountry Resort and Tourism or further shift around the bed-tax money.

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